Shadow over Eid

For those of us who think and feel a shadow was cast over Eid celebrations this year. Tragedy after tragedy struck the nation resulting in precious loss of life. There was the Jaffar Express incident involving several people who were travelling not to be met with gun fire but to meet with their relatives and celebrate Eid with their loved ones.

Other smaller incidents also claimed lives and as far as Karachi was concerned the dance of death orchestrated by heavy duty vehicles wantonly crushing the life out of ordinary folks continued unabated. There were two incidents very close to Eid that snatched the joy of this festive season from concerned families and snuffed out young lives.

The most notable and heart rendering was the accident on Shahrea Faisal in which a man and his pregnant wife were crushed by a water tanker that broke cement barriers recently constructed to avoid such a situation and came down the wrong way to hit and crush this couple who were going to a doctor for routine examination as the wife was full months pregnant.

Not only were the wife and husband crushed but the woman before dying gave birth to a baby boy who also died immediately.

Sounds like a horror movie but seems to have no effect on the loose driving of specially dumper trucks and water tankers.

While the whole city was in shock over this incident another tragedy was reported from Karsaz Road where another young couple was hit by a speeding car. It seems that both were fasting and as they realized it was time for Iftar they pulled to the side of the road to break their fast which proved fatal to them as a speeding car hit them and both died on the spot.

Only recently, I wrote about American truck drivers and how they operate on 8 hour shifts. Now the latest revelation about Pakistani drivers is that they work on 24-hour shifts. Yes you heard it right: a 24-hour shift followed by a 24-hour break was the routine for the water tanker driver who snuffed out the life of a family. This was disclosed by a police officer who interrogated this driver but he did not seem surprised, agitated or upset about it.

Maybe that is the routine for water tankers and no doubt they are tops in the list for causing casualties on the road.

How can a person drive around for 24 hours without sleep and still have the ability to respond adequately to a crisis on the road when that happens? While half-asleep water tanker drivers running around without being adequately monitored by law enforcement and having no accountability for their actions what do you expect? Something else that stands out is that anyone on a 24-hour shift is probably using drugs to keep them going. Now imagine a half-asleep driver on drugs roaming around the city in a heavy duty vehicle.

Tragedies of any proportion can happen in such a scenario. Another major cause that comes through the conversations of law enforcement officials is lack of maintenance which results in brakes not performing when they should as happened in this case. Police officials disclosed that the brakes had failed on the water tanker responsible for this horrible accident. In Canada, one cannot sell a vehicle unless he or she obtains a safety check certificate from a reputable workshop.

Every time a vehicle changes hands it is automatically checked for safety and if there are any shortcomings like even the indicator not working they are fixed.

It were the two drivers who actually perpetuated these tragedies on these unfortunate families but behind them is a long story of neglect to safety by all concerned.

The owners of these heavy-duty vehicles do not pay attention to the behavior of their drivers and push them to the limit to make a quick buck.

All those responsible for carrying out safety checks are not doing their job properly as safety checks have over the years become a mere formality. What is usually observed are a few more days of showing concern and promises of taking the required steps and then it is just business as usual.

The two families concerned will live out the tragedies that could have been avoided at a time when others would be celebrating Eid. For those in a celebrity mood a word of caution: nothing has changed and the roads are still ruled by dumper trucks and water tankers driven by drivers on a 24-hour shift.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025